Gorr the God Butcher will prove to be a unique addition to the MCU in comparison to other villains when he makes his live-action debut in Thor: Love and Thunder. Played by Christian Bale, Gorr is set for a showdown with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in the Phase 4 movie, which is scheduled for a May 2022 release.
Set photos have provided a first glimpse at gods of the MCU, meaning that at some point Thor himself will become a target.
As a character who made his first appearance in a 2012 issue of Thor: God of Thunder, Gorr doesn’t have the rich history of most Marvel villains, but he does have a few key storylines that Thor: Love and Thunder can take inspiration from to deliver a truly compelling antagonist. And based on the source material, it’s clear that Gorr will easily be able to stand apart from all villains that have preceded in the MCU. He obviously won’t be the first character to have a vendetta, but his is markedly different from people like Zemo, Killmonger, and all the rest.
It’s worth noting that like the villains mentioned above, Gorr shares a tragic backstory filled with pain and heartache. After spending his early life thinking that gods can’t be real because of the bad things that happen in the world, Gorr discovered their existence and came to blame them for the loss of his civilization. This tragic aspect of the character is one quality that a multi-faceted actor like Christian Bale will excel at bringing to life on the big screen. However, it should be pointed out that despite this detail, Gorr is not a sympathetic character, and therein lies the biggest difference between him and other tragic MCU villains.
Fundamentally, Gorr is a cold-blooded murderer with a preconceived hatred for all gods. His willingness to massacre innocents all over the universe and across the timestream makes him a serial killer on a cosmic scale. Parallels to Thanos in that respect can be drawn, but even he doesn’t share the unbridled hatefulness of Gorr the God Butcher.
Armed with the all-powerful Necrosword in Thor: Love and Thunder, Gorr will have the physical means to fell the strongest characters the MCU has to offer. To some, this combined with his backstory may make him feel similar to the last Thor villain – Hela – but in actuality, Gorr is the polar opposite of her. Hela believed that the gods didn’t get the respect they deserved, whereas Gorr was convinced they shouldn’t even be allowed to exist.
